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Patients of a West Vancouver doctor who sent out a plea for help paying for his retirement are defending their longtime GP, and say they’ll do what they can to make sure he has enough money in his golden years. Dr. Myron MacDonald’s goodbye letter to his patients was brought to the attention of the College of […]

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Learning you or a loved one has Parkinson’s disease can be devastating news. Parkinson’s can ultimately rob someone of their independence, their dignity and much more. It can also mean significant changes for a spouse or caregiver as they adjust to a new role. Parkinson’s is a complex neurodegenerative disease that includes loss of dopamine […]

A West Vancouver doctor who wrote a letter asking patients for regular payments to support him during retirement is facing scrutiny from the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons. The two-page goodbye letter from general practitioner Dr. Myron MacDonald announces that he will be retiring this month after 48 years in practice, time that he describes as “a […]

Asian Canadian seniors often have poor health outcomes after being placed in long-term care homes that aren’t culturally sensitive to their needs, says a newly formed Asian Canadian Seniors Health Network. For many seniors in a culturally insensitive nursing home, where no one speaks their language or understands their ways, their last years become their most […]

In 1995, Dr. David Scheifele wrote a paper proposing that facilities such as B.C. Children’s Hospital should have on-site clinics where sick kids could catch up on their vaccinations. It took 21 years, but that vision is finally becoming a reality. Thanks to a $15-million donation from Save-On-Foods, a new immunization clinic is expected to open […]

Local news media coverage about Angus, the BC springer spaniel being used at Vancouver General Hospital for superbug-sniffing duty caught the attention of CBS News in New York. A crew from there flew to Vancouver soon after my story and video was published. CBS This Morning aired its really great segment on Angus today because, well, it’s […]

A drug distribution system for dozens of private health clinics across the country is being examined by Health Canada after a complaint over matters like safe storage and handling of a medication requiring intravenous infusion into patients' veins.

Donning HAZMAT suits and carrying overdose-reversing naloxone nasal spray, police carefully seize a white powder from a clandestine drug lab. It could be cocaine or heroin but lately, it’s likely to contain the highly-toxic opioid fentanyl or worse. Until the sample reaches the bench chemists at one of Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS) laboratories, […]

Over three decades ago a silent investment in a Chilliwack retirement home allowed Abdul, Shamim and their son, Azim Jamal, to start what would become the largest chain of retirement homes in B.C., Retirement Concepts. Along the way, they became influential in the health-care industry, winning many lucrative contracts with the provincial government to provide subsidized […]

Second in a 2-part series on elderly renters Seventy-one-year-old Maria de los Angeles Flores and her husband live in an immaculate one-bedroom apartment ideally located in North Vancouver close to shops and a community centre. The couple, who immigrated from Mexico, pay $800 a month in rent and haven’t had a rent increase in the […]

The high cost of housing in Metro Vancouver and Victoria is rendering some seniors homeless for first time in their lives, while others are being forced to leave their communities to find affordable rents.

A serious staffing shortage in nursing homes throughout B.C. is leaving long-term care providers struggling to find ways to retain workers and fill job vacancies. A study by SafeCare BC found 60 per cent of long-term residential care homes that participated in the survey have a worker shortage, and it is particularly acute on Vancouver Island, with […]

The inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs for the 27,000 B.C. seniors living in nursing homes has decreased but the use of antidepressants among such seniors remains high in British Columbia compared to other provinces, says B.C. seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie. There has been a decrease of 14 per cent in the potential misuse of antipsychotics, according […]

One year to the week after Premier Christy Clark announced health authorities would get an extra $80 million over four years to speed up access to MRI tests, B.C. patients have the longest wait times in Canada for such imaging tests, according to a Fraser Institute study.

Janice Williams has spent a prolonged period of time healing from the agony inflicted by an art therapist who gave her the world and then tore it apart. An artist and author in Gibsons, the 66-year-old Williams sought counselling to deal with fear, shame and sadness that followed childhood traumas, she said. In 1991, she signed up for eight sessions […]

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